Wins Garment Workers Continue their Fight

3/8 /03

Former garment workers at the Wins factory are continuing their battle for full restitution of wages held back by the owners. Years of struggle eventually involving the Labor Department won back $550,000 of the $2 million that they are owed. The workers want all the wages that they are owed and not a quarter of it.
In 2001, over 240 garment workers, mostly monolingual immigrant Chinese women, labored for months without pay and were owed over $1 million. They were employed by three related factories in San Francisco—Wins of California, Win Fashion, and Win Industries of America, all owned by Anna Wong and her husband Toha “Jimmy” Quan.

Despite the Wins workers’ numerous requests to be involved in the case, the US Labor Department (DOL) negotiated the $550,000 settlement without input from the workers. They defend the settlement as "a great victory." Part of the settlement requires the DOL to cease pursuing the remainder of the workers' wages from Wong and Quan. The DOL sold out the Wins Garment Workers to settles with the sweatshop owners

The settlement tells unscrupulous businesses that they can continue to exploit immigrant workers and get away with it. The Chinese Progressive Association and Asian Law Caucus are working with the workers. Their investigation shows that despite the owners' repeated claims that they had no assets to pay the workers’ back wages, Anna Wong re-purchased garment equipment from Charyn Auctions for $25,807.00 in Dec. 2001. They have also found Wong and Quan transferred their personal assets to friends and family members in an attempt to hide assets and to evade personal liability. The transfers involved the several properties in San Francisco, CA, and Oakland, CA. Early in 2002, Wong and Quan opened a large restaurant called the Chinatown Restaurant, located at 744 Washington Street in San Francisco. The workers will continue to pursue what they are owed through all available means.